Page 159

She was about to ask him how he had found her, but he took her hand and pulled her along. “The temple is shielded against coin travel,” he informed her. “But we can get to a gate nearby.”

They rushed down the hallway, stepping over piles of bodies. Feeders and Wielders with dark liquid seeping from their faces.

She tried to keep up with him, looking over her shoulder every so often to make sure Feeders weren’t following them. But it was silent. The air was thick with death and decay.

Her panicked breath burned in her lungs as they ran out of the temple. On the cobblestones, overgrown with grass and moss, surrounded by dozens of bodies, stood her friends.

Amelia, Harrington, and Evren were just outside the temple entrance and had their right hands outstretched, ready to strike.

Aidric stormed toward them with Mira in tow.

“Thanks for standing guard,” he said.

“What are friends for?” Evren replied with a nervous laugh. “Where is Rakkley?”

“Don’t know. I didn’t see him.”

They kept walking away from the temple. Farther in the distance, Ella, Oliver, and Rylan waited and waved for Mira to run. A magic gate glowed next to a willow tree.

They made their way to the Casters, but Mira kept looking over her shoulder, staring at the old temple. Why did Rakkley not chase them? Attack them? Why was he letting her leave?

Ella hugged Mira tightly. “Thank the spheres you’re alive.”

The magic gate was only a few feet away.

“Let’s get out of here,” Oliver said. He took another step and slammed into an invisible barrier. His fingers brushed against a solid surface.

“What is this?” Harrington asked.

“It’s some type of perimeter spell,” Rylan replied, running his hand along the barrier that kept them from escaping. The barrier that kept them trapped.

“It wasn’t here when we arrived,” Ella said.

The researcher shook his head. “It was. I’ve read about this before. We were able to walk through the perimeter but not back out.”

Evren threw a powerful dark spell, but it simply fizzled away when it hit the invisible surface.

Rylan cast a revealing spell, and the perimeter around them lit up in bright lights. A dome of protective spells encompassed the entire temple and even some of the surrounding forest. And from the darkness of the woods emerged Feeders, passing through the dome as easily as her friends had when they arrived. The creatures came at them from every angle. Only the path to the temple was clear, but Mira knew what awaited her in the shadows.

Aidric pushed her behind his body. The sheer number of Feeders took her breath away. They were a wall of flesh and eyes, breathing in unison.

Barefoot, wearing nothing but Aidric’s shirt and a pair of light linen trousers, she should be freezing. But she couldn’t tell if she was cold. Her breath was ragged as fear threatened to choke her.

She tried to think through the haze in her mind, the muddle of pain and panic. They were trapped. It was her fault. Even with four powerful Wielders, they were outnumbered.

“Is there no way to break through this stupid perimeter spell?” Aidric asked Rylan.

“There’s always a way, but this appears to be a rather sophisticated perimeter. It’s going to take me some time to untangle all the different spells and counteract them.”

“Please, take all the time you need,” Aidric hissed.

“Alert the council,” Mira gasped. “They’ll send enforcers and perimeter shield experts.”

Rylan shook his head. “Already tried that. The shield locks out scrolls as well.”

“Do they know we’re here?” she asked.

“No,” Oliver said between his teeth, staring at Aidric. “Someone said he didn’t trust the council.”